The match pitted two of the workforces behind team ChannelFireball, Eric Froehlich and Josh Utter-Leyton, against each other. Both were coming off the back of a great season. Froehlich posted a 27th, a 4th, and a 10th place finish at this season's three Pro Tours. Josh Utter-Leyton, as the Player of the Year, managed to score even more pro points.

Now, the two heavyweights of American Magic, both sitting at 1-1 records, had to face off in Modern Masters draft.

Both Eric Froehlich and Josh Utter-Leyton had incredible seasons. The two ChannelFireball teammates looked to start off the new season right with a solid finish early on in the 2013 Magic World Championship.

The Draft and Decks

Before the games, the players got a peek at each other's draft pools, and they discussed each other's picks.

Utter-Leyton started off his draft with a first-pick Cloudgoat Ranger, arguably the best uncommon in the set, and subsequently took a bunch of red burn cards. When he opened another Cloudgoat Ranger in second pack, his draft seemed to come together quite nicely. "Josh's pool is insane," Froehlich said. Utter-Leyton's deck features the excellent combination of creatures with enters-the-battlefield triggers (such as Cloudgoat Ranger, Murderous Redcap, and Ivory Giant) and so-called blink effects (Flickerwisp and Otherworldly Journey) to get even more value out of those creatures.

In the draft, Utter-Leyton was passing directly to Froehlich, giving him a clear signal that the domain archetype was open with cards like Skyreach Manta. Froehlich duly picked them up, but he felt the packs did not serve him well. "I was in the right archetype, but there were hardly any bombs, not a lot of mana fixing, and no payoff for being five-color. My deck is perfectly average," he said. Taking a closer look at Utter-Leyton's list, Froehlich pointed at Imperiosaur and said, "Look at all those cards you cut from me!" Utter-Leyton reassured his teammate that had actively been hating cards from him. "Imperisaur was the third pick of my draft," Utter-Leyton explained.

As the game progressed, Eric found himself in a commanding position, only at the risk of losing to a top-deck from Josh. Otherworldy Journey would be particularly scary because Utter-Leyton might use on his Ivory Giant to tap any blockers. Unfortunately for Utter-Leyton, however, he hit a glut of land. When he finally drew a non-land card in Cloudgoat Ranger, Eric had Traumatic Visions at the ready, and that was that. "I drew five spells and ten lands," Utter-Leyton despondently said afterwards.

Froehlich's steady stream of card advantage allowed him to run over Utter-Leyton in the first game, whose mana flood kept him from getting any foothold.

"There was no way I could play around Krosan Grip," Utter-Leyton said. "Not having my sixth land for Fiery Fall to kill his 5/5 cost me the game. I think I had the best deck in the pod; I just ran bad in the games."